User Reviews

These speakers are very good, and as many have already mentionned, ther are very dependant on the electronics used.

I have listened to Sonus Faber Concertos with a wide range of material. My advice is that you shoudl stay away from mid-fi material such as NAD, Rotel or equivalently prices products(stay away from Japanese stuff).

A fantastic match with the Concertos are Naim products(not entry level but the CD5X and pre-power separates). Naim electrnics gives a very detailed, transparent and solid sound. And the bass is fast and gripping. This system set up will show you what the Concertos can deliver. Of course, the Naim gear I use is somewhat expensive (8000 dollars) compared with Sonus Faber Concertos(2000 dollars), but again these speakers are so good, they deserve a solid system behind it.

Combined with the right equipment, these speakers can do almost everything (they are not the best choice for rock music but still very listenable).

Four months ago I upgraded to these from a pair of Polk RT-800s. What ended up happening is that the Concertos revealed the inadequacies of my electronics and forced me to upgrade my components! I could now hear how bright and fatiguing my CD player's output was, so I replaced it with a better one. Upper bass was lacking, so I got a beefier amp and used my receiver as a preamp (this helped noticeably but didn't bring the upper bass to quite the level I desired). Since the new CD player had its own volume control, I tried hooking it up directly to the amp and noticed a significant improvement in clarity. So I did away with the receiver altogether and got a nice preamp with analog bypass.

Ok, so first the good points of these speakers. The treble and midrange are outstanding for a two-driver unit; if I listen to my Polks now I almost wonder if someone stuffed cotton into my ears. Very well suited for classical music. With the right equipment the Concertos are not overly bright. They can get to quite loud volume without distorting.

They are very attractive and would have a high "wife acceptance factor". In the same vein, they are small and light for main speakers.

Ok, you're almost certainly going to need a subwoofer to go with these. The bass is there but not at near the volume as with a larger full-range speaker. With a nice "quick" subwoofer and carefully chosen crossover setting (65 Hz is good) and gain on it, these speakers are nice even for rock music.

Now then, do the Concerto mini-monitors with a sub outperform expensive large floor-standing speakers? In my opinion, no. The main reason is that there's a lack of upper bass. Everything between around 80 Hz and 130 Hz needs more oomph. Snare drums sound great but the toms are generally weak. The bass guitar takes a back seat at anything above the subwoofer's crossover setting, making for an often uneven rendition of the bass line. You could cross the sub over higher, but then the bass becomes muddy and directional.

In addition, though it's nice to have a small two-driver package, the speakers struggle with complex music. When there are many instruments playing simultaneously, detail can be washed out a bit. In contrast, on my friend's three-way 15-driver (!) speakers, the instruments are clearly separated out and easier to discern. Of course, each speaker of that pair weighs 180 pounds and the silly things are simply gargantuan.

Due to the moderately low sensitivity, you'll need a muscular amp to drive the Concertos with authority.

Overall, an excellent value on the second hand market, a bit pricey brand new. I'm happy with my purchase, but I will upgrade in a few years to nice floor-standing speakers.

I was pleased with these beautiful monitors on some Jazz and acoustic music.I don't know how well they will do with rock.I really couldn't find anything bad to say about their performance .Being a 1st order crossover I don't believe they will play really loud without sounding stressed.But at normal listening levels it's all good.I will say I prefered the Concertinos...because of their great dissapearing act! This is a tough price range.Being the case there so many brands that hold their own.So I would recommend looking around maybe even the new Paradigm 20 v3s or Soliloquy 5.0s. Save some money and have a pretty close performing monitor for less than half the price.Only the buyer can decide if it's worth the extra money.

Sonus Faber is a stylish-brand and well known around the world for their small yet highly competitive monitors. The combination of real wood and leather, even on the standmounts, are famous. So what about the Concerto Homes? Are they good performers or are they just good-looking? Well, they are both. I bought dem secondhand to fit into my livingroom with a Onix 120 watts integrated, Pioneer PD-S06 CD and MIT cables. The electronics have proved to be neutral with power enough to run e.g Infinity Kappa 70 (floorstander with dual 6,5 inch woofers). I did hope that the promised bass-response from the Concertos down to 40 hz was enough for my livingroom and my tastes. It wasnt. Bass roll-off starts above 40 hz, and you wont get any punch or power belov 50 hz. With neutral equipment theres not enough low bass. Period. I had to fit in a REL sub to make a decent bassresponse, but then again, my wife went nuts over this black and ugly box. What else is there to write about the Concertos? A lot, actually. They have a very good and detailed midrange and treble resolution, with rythm, snap and drive. Soundstage is good and precise. They will play loud enough for grown-ups, but will not party. When pushed the treble becomes somewhat nasal and restrained. These babies will not play all music with passion either. Hard rock and heavier stuff will sound academic and thin. Vocal, both male and female, acoustic instruments, jazz, blues, and such, sound excellent. Do yourself a BIG FAVOUR: Listen to more than just one or two different speakers before you buy - NEVER believe a written testresult (such as this one...) After a period I switched over to NAD T752 home cinema amp. The overall sound from the Concertos did not change. This to imply that they are not sensitive to amp size, but you must try dem on your own amp. Later I sold them to another hifinut. He reported wery good results with Harman/Kardon PA series pre/poweramps. These are known to be beefy with slam. Just a hint. Good luck

After a hard days work, switch on the Amp, pop-in India.Arie, Four-Play, Higher Octave Music, Yanni......etc. Just Relax.
Everything good and wonderful has been said about this speaker. What more can I asked for? Amatis (stargazing......)
Still a good buy for 2nd hand. Mine is new (walnut) for 3 years now. Remove the grill fabric for critical listening. Need to replace my BA sub with REL for further improvement to musical nirvana and any CD player better than my old CD-94. I dont know what the future holds but still i'm dreaming for the Amati's. Life is Beautiful, Live One-Day-At-A-Time.
My gears:
Musical Fidelity A300, Marantz CD-94, Pioneer DVD414, BA VR500 Sub, Thorens TD-280, VandenHul
and QED cables.

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